Something To Chew On: Petfood and retailing share history, passion

Today, though there are fewer independent pet stores, the pet market is booming in the US and globally, with projections for continued growth

Pets inspire people to devote their careers to them, in retailing and making petfood. - Debbie Phillips-Donaldson

"The pet store has changed a lot. We used to
have a refrigerator full of fresh horse meat, which people
would feed their dogs and cats," said Alyce Russell, former
owner of a California store first purchased by her parents in
1955.

"I remember when all dog food came from the grocery store
[in the 1970s]. Today, the primary thing that gets people into
pet stores is the dog food," said Bern Levine, DVM, president
of Parrot Jungle Island tropical theme park in Miami, Florida,
USA.

Both quotes come from a series of 2006
Pet Product News
articles on pioneers of the pet industry. Their comments
reflect the strong link throughout the past 50 years between
petfood and the retail environment in which it is sold.

Category killers?

Walking through a pet trade show in the 1990s, the comments
you heard often centered on Petco and PetSmart. Neither chain
was new - Petco opened its first store in 1965 and PetSmart in
1986 - but in the '90s both companies went into full
acquisition/expansion mode, quickly dominating the scene.

Their rapid growth was greatly aided by the then-hot US
economy and the explosion of the pet industry overall. More
people had greater disposable income and were happy to spend it
on all the terrific, innovative offerings from the pet
industry. This included a growing selection of premium,
superpremium, natural and organic petfoods.

Petco and PetSmart were joined by huge discounters like
Wal-Mart and Target, which saw the vast opportunities and
expanded their pet sections. Many independent retailers went
out of business, along with distributors and vendors that
couldn't deliver according to the big chains' demands.

Fast-forward 10 years

Today, though there are fewer independent pet stores, the
pet market is booming in the US and globally, with projections
for continued growth. And the surviving independent stores,
along with many new ones, are succeeding by serving niches only
they can fill: natural products, live pets, expert or special
knowledge, for example.

Most industry experts see the retail changes as beneficial
in the long run. "[PetSmart and Petco] take advantage of the
more scientific knowledge about pets and make pet owning
easier," said Pete Peterson, former owner of distributor
Herbert Amerpet in San Francisco, California USA, and also
interviewed by
Pet Product News
. "That helps everyone."

Through all the changes, pets still are integral to our
lives and inspire people to devote their careers to them,
whether in retailing or making petfood. "You have to love what
you do and be passionate about animals to survive in this
business," noted Al Selmer, owner of Selmer's Pet Land in South
Huntington, New York, USA. "The pet industry's enemy is not
progress. It is apathy and lack of passion."

May 2020

In the May 2020 issue of Petfood Industry, discover which U.S. pet food companies were added to China's customs list, how AAFCO regulations are likely to change and what the pet food industry will look like after the COVID-19 pandemic.